Sweden Funds the Arbitration Council Foundation of Cambodia

The Embassy of Sweden signed her yesterday an agreement to fund the Arbitration Council Foundation (ACF) in Cambodia to strengthen the industrial relations and labour market conditions in Cambodia.

According to a press release, this one-year core support agreement is worth SEK 2.5 million (around US$268,000).

Education and labour market is one of the focus areas for Sweden's Development Cooperation with Cambodia. Arbitration Council Foundation has significantly contributed to solving the labour disputes with fair and equitable solution over the past years. Since 2014, Sweden has supported the Arbitration Council and Arbitration Council Foundation to continue resolving labour disputes and promoting social dialogues to contribute to a sound industrial relation environment in Cambodia, said Mr. Samuel Hurtig, Sweden's Head of Development Cooperation.

ACF promotes effective industrial relations by providing a forum for Cambodian workers and employers to seek fair and equitable resolution to labour disputes. These disputes are directly addressed in a timely and transparent manner, by hearing disputes and issuing balanced, reasoned and just arbitral decisions based on law. Between 2014 and 2018, Sweden funded the ACF over US$1.2 million to promote effective labour market governance environment for private sector and social development through the provision of a well-functioning and credible labour dispute arbitration system.

The Arbitration Council has played a significant role and performed a good level of result achievement in the labour dispute resolution. As of 2018, ACF had received 2,765 cases affecting over 1.07 million workers in the industrial and service sectors across Cambodia. Among all cases received, the Council had achieved an extraordinary 73.20 percent case resolution success rate. We are so grateful for the generous support from donors, such as Sweden over the past years, said Mr. Men Nimmith, Executive Director with ACF.

We are so grateful for generous support from development partners. Activities towards sustainability are a priority for the ACF. We are committed to providing labour dispute resolution services that help hundreds of businesses and investors and several thousands of Cambodia's workforces across the country, he added.

ACF is a local NGO working to provide technical and managerial services for the Arbitration Council (AC). It has been established in 2005. It is the national professional and independent institution mandated by the Labour law to resolve labour disputes in Cambodia. The AC is also considered a landmark institute for labour dispute resolution in Cambodia essential to support a stable labour market and contributing to the country's social and economic development.

Sweden supports Cambodia's ambition to improve the industrial relations and conditions in the labour market � not least for young people. Sida supports the Arbitration Council Foundation, whose mission is to arbitrate labour market conflicts. Since 2014, a four-party cooperation is also under way between Sweden, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), H&M and IF Metall that aims to improve industrial relations in the textile sector.